"The first and most important is the chef."

"Meiji and Chieko, of course! Those two are amazing in home ec class, they could go straight to being brides without any problems!" the female class president said directly.

The classroom erupted in laughter.

"Meiji, Chieko, is that alright with you?" Xiaoquan Aonai asked with a gentle smile.

Meiji had no objections and nodded immediately, while Chieko raised her hand with her shirt sleeve rolled up high: "Makoto has to join too!"

"Eh—me?" the female class president pointed at herself.

"Chieko, if you let Makoto handle the cooking, all the guests will be poisoned to death!" Kunii Shuichi laughed heartily.

"Kunii! Are you asking for it?" Class president Makoto picked up a piece of chalk, poised to throw.

"Teacher, the class president is trying to kill me!" Kunii Shuichi sat on his stool, lifted his feet to protect his body, and covered his face with his hands.

The classroom instantly became noisy, with everyone egging on the female class president to beat Kunii Shuichi—with Saito Keisuke leading the charge.

At last, the male class president pushed up his glasses: "We have two weeks until the Cultural Festival, Makoto can use the home ec room. Stir-frying noodles is easy to learn."

"Alright," the female class president wrote her name behind the stir-fried noodles task, "Three people, we're still two short, plus the five for the roster change, the cooking team will have ten members in total."

"Let's have Kiyono do it," a girl suggested, "If she made the stir-fried noodles, lots of guys would line up for sure."

"Yeah, never mind the guys, I really want to try Kiyono's cooking too!"

"That's great!"

"I'll take care of the advertising copy or the food procurement." Kiyono Lin's calm voice filled the classroom, as if pouring water into it, and the world suddenly quieted down.

"...Oh, okay," the female class president said, snapping out of it, "Then let's leave the copywriting to Kiyono."

This was the legendary elite of the campus, whose personal will dominated above the class hierarchy.

The so-called class president was merely middle management.

"What about Mr. Dubian?" another girl chimed in, "As long as it's food made by Mr. Dubian's own hands, a lot of girls would be willing to swallow it even if it were poison!"

"That's you, right?"

"Definitely not!" The girl immediately denied it, then said, "Well, if it were poison, I'd only eat it if Mr. Dubian begged me!"

"You'd eat it just because he asked?"

"What about you?!"

"I'm not as pathetic as you! But if Mr. Dubian insisted I eat it, then I'd have no choice!"

"What the heck! You're just the same as her!"

"Mr. Dubian?" the female class president looked at Dubian Che, "We already have three people for the stir-fried noodles, and we need one more for the fried rice, and one for grilling sausages. Which do you want to do?"

"Have I been confirmed for the cooking already?" Dubian Che asked.

"Of course," the female class president said with a smile, "Those in favor of appointing Mr. Dubian for the cooking, please raise your hands!"

A forest of hands shot up immediately.

"Alright," Dubian Che conceded to the tyranny of the majority, "I'll take the fried rice then. I'm actually quite adept at making Chinese-style egg-fried rice."

"You can even cook Chinese cuisine? Amazing!"

"I really want to try it! Looking forward to it!"

"Do we get employee meals for free, with priority access to Dubian's cooking?"

"Our class is definitely going to win first place in the Cultural Festival activities this time!"

"Stop, stop, stop!" the female class president yelled over the excited girls, "This isn't the time to discuss that! Kiyono, make sure the phrase 'Mr. Dubian's fried rice' is in the ad copy."

"Should we add a heart after the fried rice?" a girl asked, laughing.

"Jiutiao would definitely kill you if she heard that."

Just the selection of the cooking team's ten members took up an entire evening class session, and the remaining tasks had to continue the next day.

After school, Xiaoquan Aonai found Dubian Che and Kiyono Lin.

"When do we start rehearsing the play?" she asked, "With only two weeks left, we need to strive for a perfect performance and there's a myriad of things to do. We need to manage our time well."

"Jiutiao was absent today, our lead actor was missing, so it has to be tomorrow. But please get ready, learn your lines in advance," Kiyono Lin said.

"It's my first time performing in a play, I hope I can be of help," Xiaoquan Aonai said hesitantly.

"Don't worry, I'll train you until you pass muster before the official performance," Kiyono Lin said unapologetically.

"Then I'm counting on you," Xiaoquan Aonai didn't mind her tone at all.

As long as no one brought up that time when she was sixteen and called her "Big Sister," anything was fine.

Today, Dubian Che and Kiyono Lin were busily involved with photography, music, and costuming among other things.

The next day, September 11th, rehearsals officially started.

"Everyone got their script, right?" Kiyono Lin commanded as they sat around the zelkova table.

"Yeah!" Ichiki Aoi, a part-time worker, nodded.

Dubian Che flipped open the script, which was different from the one he had passed to Kiyono—it now had a cover with 'Human Observation Department's Second Cultural Festival Play Script: The End of the World and the Cold Fairyland' written on it.

Opening the cover, there was a list of roles.

Script: Dubian Che

Director: Kiyono Lin

Girl: Jiutiao Meijie

Fairy: Kiyono Lin

Devil: Dubian Che

Pedestrian 1: Xiaoquan Aonai

Pedestrian 2: Mayi Asuka

Pedestrian 3: Ichiki Aoi

"For the first practice, everyone familiarize yourselves with the lines. Next week, we'll get access to the gym for the full dress rehearsal."

"Yes!" Ichiki Aoi responded.

"Okay." Xiaoquan Aonai nodded.

As for the other three, Mayi Asuka's eyes were fixed on the script, her leg rubbing under the table against Dubian Che's leg.

Dubian Che struggled to maintain his composure, not wanting to be noticed by God Kiyono.

Jiutiao Meiji supported her head with one hand while her other hand flipped through the script nonchalantly.

"Let's begin."